Healthy and refreshing are the two words you often hear when you hear of a pasta salad. This is because a pasta salad is both a refresher and a great contributor of good components to your well-being. The veggies, fruits, and herbs that come with it ensure that you get a healthy and nourishing meal. Its overall goodness and health benefits will make you want to know more about this dish. Read this article to the end and know what to serve with pasta salad for a complete and hearty meal. Don’t get us wrong here; the pasta salad is an outstanding delicacy by its right. However, combine it with other dishes, and it could give you a food experience you have never felt before.
The Perfect Way to Make Pasta Salad
Before we dive into the topic of “what to serve with pasta salad,” let us first tackle how to make the perfect pasta salad for your family and friends. Because what better way into the hearts of your loved ones than to serve them a delicious and healthy-looking pasta salad, right? Gather your ingredients, and let’s begin.
Season the Pasta Right Away
The first thing you want to do is to season your pasta right away. This is also true to other kinds of pasta, so you might want to note this one down. Put salt into the water that you will be using to cook your pasta, and the salted water will do its job of seasoning the past from the inside and the outside. The reason behind this is for your chosen pasta to start building flavor, which comes from the salt you just put earlier on. It’s a technique that most inexperienced people forget, so their pasta tends to get boring and tasteless. Don’t let this happen to you and try our recommendation.
Size and Shape Matters for Pasta
Yes, you read that right. The size and shape of the pasta should complement the dish that you will be cooking. One good example is macaroni and cheese. There are only certain types of pasta that can blend well with the yellow color of the cheese. Another one is the short pasta cuts. One good example of this is the macaroni pasta which is the best type of pasta for a pasta salad. The reason behind this is that the small build of the macaroni pasta blends well with the small sizes of the other ingredients.
Never Ever Overcook the Pasta
If there is one taboo in the world of pasta, that would be to overcook it. This is a big no when talking about pasta. What you want is just the right amount of softness for your pasta, so to do that, you need to cook your pasta for just about two minutes max to avoid overcooking.
Dressing is the Key
Making an effort to cook a fresh pasta salad just to top it up with a dressing bought from a store somewhere is not a good way to give justice to your homemade pasta salad. You have already made a good pasta salad, so why not go all the way and make a homemade dressing which can be way better than a dressing from the store? The key element to blend the dressing with the pasta salad is to mix the dressing right away after cooking your pasta. This way, your pasta will absorb the tastiness of the dressing you just made.
Best Partners for a Good Pasta Salad
Most of the time, you are going to serve a pasta salad to a familiar audience which means you will most likely serve it during family gatherings. To complement the pasta salad, you are going to also serve family-friendly dishes. Your next question now might be, “what to eat with pasta salad.” We have got you covered with our list of what main dish goes well with pasta salad. Let’s start.
Hamburgers for Protein
Basically, pasta salad is about starch and healthiness because of the pasta and the veggie and herbal ingredients. To balance things out, you need to serve delicious hamburgers for the meat and for that protein. Hamburgers are easy to eat like a pasta salad, and they really compliment the taste of each other.
Chicken BBQ
The second one on our list of what to serve with pasta salad is the juicy chicken barbeque. Just thinking of this menu just makes my mouth water. Imagine eating this with the pasta salad, and you have plenty of flavor playing in your mouth. The smokiness of the chicken barbeque perfectly blends with the starchy and fresh taste of the pasta salad. Like hamburgers, they too are meant for each other.
Deviled Eggs
The third one in our list of what to serve with pasta salad is deviled eggs. These tasty little champions are the perfect combination for your pasta salad. Deviled eggs can come in many forms, depending on what you want to partner them with. We suggest that you make deviled eggs with cheese and bacon so that they will taste well with your pasta salad. The strong flavors of the cheese and the saltiness of the bacon will complement the starchy and fresh flavor of the pasta salad.
Conclusion
With the knowledge of what to serve with pasta salad, you can now cater to your family and friends with better food combinations, especially with pasta salad. Remember that the key to a perfect family gathering is blending and balancing the menu, as we presented earlier. The perfect example is the pasta salad with the chicken barbeque earlier. That combo will make your taste buds praise you for being a knowledgeable cook. However, it’s not just the combo that matters. You also need to remember not to overcook your pasta so that your guest and family members can enjoy it well. Learn more about pasta salad here!